Report: Russia to Retrieve a Nuclear-Powered Missile Lost at Sea

FISHING TRIP

Updated Aug. 21, 2018 3:31PM ET / Published Aug. 21, 2018 3:28PM ET

MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty

Russia is preparing to retrieve a nuclear-powered missile that was lost at sea after a botched launch, CNBC reports. The missile, launched in November, landed in the Barents Sea and the retrieval operation will include three ships “equipped to handle radioactive material from the weapon’s nuclear core,” sources familiar with a U.S. intelligence report on the matter said. Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the missile in March, boasting that its nuclear power would make it have “unlimited range,” but it has not yet launched successfully. The report suspects that the Russians are retrieving the missile to serve as a “blueprint for future recovery operations,” but it does not address the radioactive leakage that may or may not have happened during the missile crash.